Gordy G 7040 (B), March 1965

Tamla Motown TMG 504 (B), March 1965

The Temptations’ second album, The Temptations Sing Smokey, was an LP made up (as you’ve probably already worked out) solely out of songs written and produced by Smokey Robinson.

A winning recipe, right? Unfortunately, there’s a subtle but undeniable difference between “Smokey wrote and produced this album” and “Smokey wrote and produced everything on this album”. The LP did feature the last two Temptations singles, My Girl and It’s Growing, both bespoke creations for the group by Smokey, but otherwise Robinson was busy with other matters – not least his own performing career having rather neglected the Miracles over the past eighteen months while giving away all his best songs to other people – and he wasn’t about to write another ten new songs to bulk out the Temptations’ album.

So, instead, The Temptations Sing Smokey is more of a covers LP than a new artistic statement; The Temptations Sing The Smokey Songbook might have been a more apposite title. With one astounding exception (of which more later), the rest of the album sees Smokey and the Temptations in recycling mode, recording new versions of a great many old songs Robinson had provided over the last three years, material previously recorded both by the Miracles, and by the recently-unwelcome Mary Wells. Some of the remakes are better than the originals, and some – like this one – aren’t.

Long before she walked out on the company and found herself ostracised, Mary Wells had had the first crack at this song, recording her version back in early 1963 as the B-side to Your Old Stand By; Mary’s original version, a jazz-inflected torch ballad a million storeys high, casts a huge shadow over the Temptations’ subsequent re-recording.

Given a chance at a do-over, Smokey takes the opportunity to tear down and rebuild the song, adding a whole new passage, a dramatic, pounding, ominous intro full of deep harmonies and string stings which grabs the listener’s attention every time it comes up (Robinson wisely re-uses it later in the song). It’s excellent, both driving and genuinely intense – but then when Eddie Kendricks’ lead vocal strikes up and the song promptly collapses back into Mary’s original arrangement, a much more restrained proposition, all of that drive and intensity, all the energy, flows right back out of the record.

Worse, the original’s crowning moment of awesome glory, Mary’s astonishing leap up the scale to nail a perfect, show-stopping high note – “what LOVE has joined together” – is gone. It’s unclear whether Smokey removed it from the new arrangement because Eddie’s falsetto singing voice is so much higher than Mary’s smoky contralto, or whether Eddie just chickened out of tackling it, but in its place is a dreadfully disappointing middle eight where a chorus should be, the group reciting the title phrase in a completely flat monotone (“love – has – joined… together”), adding a huge pause after “joined” and then hurrying to squash three syllables into a space only meant to fit two, almost gabbling out that last “together“. I don’t think it would be particularly good even if I’d never heard Mary’s version, but playing them back to back is a comparison that does Eddie and the boys no credit; the Tempts sound like racehorses pulling up at a particularly tricky fence.

That lack of derring-do permeates the whole record, giving it something of a “will this do?” feel, rather than the soaring ambition of the original. What we’re left with is pretty much the very definition of Temptations album filler, a pleasant but largely pointless retouching of a song that didn’t have anything wrong with it in the first place, while that new bit would have graced some other record; it’s wholly wasted here.

All still nice enough, and it sounds good, but considering the heights both Smokey and the Temptations were now hitting with regular abandon, “nice enough” isn’t, well, enough.

MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT

(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)

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22 thoughts on “555. The Temptations: “What Love Has Joined Together””

I went back and re-read your Mary Wells entry for this song and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said it seemed tailor-made for the rhythms and cadences of Mary’s singing. Perhaps that’s why when the Tempts handled it, it almost seemed clumsy in their hands, especially the “what love has joined together….” part. Also, it seems the Love Tones’ backing on Mary’s version is warmer, smoother and more supportive of Mary’s vocals than the Tempts do behind Eddie K.

Again, you appear to miss the point at Motown in the mid-sixties. Berry Gordy’s primary objective was sell singles, like most of the competition. This is the Tempts and Smokey’s reading of this song. It was meant as a stand alone statement not an homage to Mary Wells. The public liked their version enough for it to be included in their live act. In the live version listen to Eddie hitting the word “love”. No fear there.

In truth, I’ve never listened to side 2 of Tempatations Sing Smokey, half as much as the front side. It’s not a bad album in the least and I love it, but I’d be willing to listen to arguments that first LP inclusion of “My Girl” might have had a finer showcase and filled with songs we’d never heard before. But as you note, Smokey is spread thin right about now; the Miracles need him, the Temptations need him, Brenda needs him and Wanda is soon gonna need him. All that plus performance duties and an at least cursory presence as a Motown vice-president. It’s amazing in retrospect that the man looks as robust as he does today.

This is one of Smokey’s nicest love songs, and I’m glad it exists from both male and female perspectives, even if one is greater than the other. I think it was a year after this was out on the flip of “It’s Growing” before I’d heard Mary’s, but I’ve come to like both just fine. 6-to-7 for me on this one. :)

Ah, but Dave, this IS on side 1 – just before the matchless ‘You’ll Lose a Precious Love.’ Just listened to it to refresh my memory, and it’s every bit as sweet and tender as I remember. Yes, certainly less transcendent than Mary’s version – but I couldn’t give this less than a seven. The unisons are so expressive and strong, and they also break into harmony at precisely the right moment – and the harmonies are GORGEOUS. This is still probably my favourite Motown album – it’s so good to hear all those glorious tunes with the Temptations’ superb, gentle and well-nigh infallible harmonies. (When I speak favourite, of course long affection is speaking.. I wouldn’t argue that it’s a BETTER album, say, than Stevie’s Talking Book – which I also love dearly, but which doesn’t reach back quite as far into the quivering heart of my youth!)

I’d give it a 6.5. So, it drops to 6 if only whole numbers can be used. It’s a good song, very good as general songs go. But it is not great nor is it excellent. It is better suited to Mary Wells, but still well-suited to the multi-talented Temptations.

Like John, I love this whole album – and, Dave L – there’s some great stuff on Side 2! I listened to Mary Wells’ version & this one back to back, and I think the Temptations (which was the only version I knew until quite recently) nail it. I’d give it at least a 7.

Hi Mary… I like this version too. This is such a good song that I enjoy all versions. There are 2 others on Motown that I know of … Smokey & his guys did a very lush version for a 1970 album. A few years later, Syreeta Wright did a great job of it as well. I haven’t heard the entire “Sing Smokey” album but I like their take on “You Beat Me to the Punch”. Cheers!

I heard the Temps version first on their Anthology and Mary’s version several years later. I prefer the Temps version by a mile. Mary’s version bores me to death, the percussion and rhythm section just don’t move–can’t stand the psuedo-calypso stuff. It was never Motown’s strong suit, even if Smokey and Mary mined it for all it was worth. The vocal performance is blah. And the mix is so dry and spare, which doesn’t help at all. The Temps version at least has a decent groove, and the lushness of the arrangement is a big improvement. It communicates tenderness and warmth in a way Mary’s fails to do. At least a 6.5/10 for me.

I’ve often wondered whether the order in which I hear these things – quite often unnatural, because of TCMS or all the weird British compilations we’ve had meaning I often hear the “wrong” version first compared to what kids in 1965 would have heard – influences my judgement. It’s really interesting that you felt the same way having heard the two versions the same way round I did!

Do definitely get a copy of “The Temptations Sing Smokey” though – for all that it’s uneven, and packed with songs you’ve already heard done (if not necessarily better then certainly *different*) by other people, it’s still a great record.

Hey Friend, Yeah Smokey’s version is really nice. Have you heard Syreeta Wright’s version from one of her early albums? It is really nice as well. I hope you are having a great day and are warm wherever your are. I’m in Maryland and it is very very cold!!!!!!!!!!!!! BRRRRRRRRR! All the best!

Its a balmy 33 degrees here today. We had some sleet this morning. By the way, you might like Smokey Robinson/Miracles version of “If This World Were Mine”. I just heard that again this weekend. Really nice arrangement. Stay warm!

Motown Junkies

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